Epiphone unveils Ltd Ed Lee Malia Explorer Custom Artisan guitar

Regardless of whether you're a fan of Bring Me The Horizon or not, Lee Malia's Les Paul Custom was an absolute blinder of a signature model - and now he's got another Epiphone to his name, the Explorer Custom Artisan.

Boasting Malia's fave Walnut finish on the classic Explorer outline, the Custom Artisan packs Gibson USA P-94 single coil and 84T-LM humbucker pickups, along with vintage-style Artisan inlays.

In between the two pickups, beneath the pickguard, is a Dummy Coil that cancels 'hum' when in single-coil mode, while the bridge volume control can be used to split the humbucker's coils.

Elsewhere, the guitar's packing a maple-topped mahogany body with 1959 rounded C profile mahogany neck, plus a torrefied composite fingerboard - the latter of which is likely Epi's response to the recently introduced CITES regulations.

Finally, the gold hardware comprises 14:1 ratio die-cast machine heads with 'tulip' buttons, Epiphone straplocks, as well as a LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece.

There's no word on RRP yet, but based on Malia's last signature model, we'd expect around £600-£700, complete with custom gigbag and Certificate of Authenticity hand-signed by the man himself.

Head over to Epiphone for more info.

Michael Astley-Brown

Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.